


Sniper Bros

by flawedamythyst



Category: Marvel, The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Long-Suffering Joe, M/M, Sniper Chat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:20:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28453773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flawedamythyst/pseuds/flawedamythyst
Summary: Joe hadn't realised that running into two SHIELD agents on a job would end with him quite so bored.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Clint Barton, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 21
Kudos: 225





	Sniper Bros

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LoonyLoopyLisa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoonyLoopyLisa/gifts).



Joe loved Nicky so much that it could not be expressed in any of the languages he knew, not even after nearly a thousand years of searching for the right words. He loved every tiny, perfect piece of him, from his beautifully-shaped nose to his generous, kind heart, from the way he smiled when he thought Joe wasn’t looking to the way his eye twitched whenever Nile claimed Chicago had the best pizza. Joe loved Nicky so much that he sometimes feared he would die from the strength of the feeling in his chest.

Right now though, he was beginning to regret ever meeting him.

“Pfah, that’s an easy shot, you want something difficult, let’s talk about 600m in a Force 7 through two windows to hit a guy on the move, now that’s-”

“Copenhagen, 1952, that was you?”

“See, you heard about it, that’s how good the shot was.”

“I heard the guy lived for two days before dying, that’s not a perfect shot.”

When they’d first run into the two guys in SHIELD uniforms while clearing out a weapon smugglers’ hide-out, Joe had almost shot one of them. Instead, the bullet had bounced off his metal arm, and at the time Joe had been glad. He hadn’t wanted to kill good guys who were there for the same reason he and Nicky were there.

That had been before they’d got back to the hotel and Nicky had found out that both the agents, Clint and Bucky, were snipers as well.

“No shot with a rifle will ever be as great as any shot with an arrow,” insisted Clint. “You can do things with an arrow that bullets can only dream about.”

Bucky groaned. “Don’t start this again, Clint. There’s nothing better about something just because it’s old.”

“No, no, he has a point,” said Nicky, as Joe tipped his head back and stared up at the hotel ceiling. Would any of them notice if he just went to bed? “I miss arrows, they were so versatile.”

“Hah!” announced Clint, sitting up straighter and grinning delightedly. “Told you so!” he said to Bucky.

“The problem is carrying all the arrows around,” said Nicky. “You can’t replace them with your enemy’s anymore, not like you used to be able to.”

“And that was my point, sweetheart,” said Bucky, leaning in towards Clint. “Carrying a fully stocked quiver restricts movement and weighs you down, and you still don’t have as many shots as the ammo I can store in my belt.”

The problem was that Nicky so rarely got to talk to other snipers, and Joe knew he enjoyed getting to compare skills. And it was nice that the two agents were a couple as well, so there had been no problem with Joe wrapping an arm around Nicky’s shoulder and pulling him in close, because Clint had had his head on Bucky’s shoulder for a while earlier, as they went over their intel about the wider smuggling operation and decided to work together to take out their headquarters.

“Maybe I don’t need as much ammo as you, because I make every shot count.”

But then, once the sniper talk had started up, Clint had perked up from half-napping on his boyfriend’s shoulder, and then Nicky had sat forward to make some point about windspeed with emphatic hand gestures. Joe had been left cold and alone, slumped against the back of the sofa and bored out of his mind.

“Okay, so, 700 metre distance, target is in full body armour and helmet, and mostly behind cover. Wind’s at force four. How would you do it?” asked Clint, as if it were the most serious question he’d ever ask.

“I’d run 700 metres and put my sword in his eye,” said Joe, and earned himself one of Nicky’s bright grins. Well, maybe he’d stay awake a bit longer if he was going to get to see some of those.

And then the conversation descended into a fierce debate over the merits of a Ruger versus a Remington rifle, and Joe let himself slump again. It was going to be a long night.


End file.
